Informal Settlers in lima - Peru

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ABSTRACT

Informal settlements have resulted from the activity of people trying to satisfy their basic needs in an adverse situation. The origin of the biggest manifestation of informal settlers in Lima came from the provinces of the country almost half a century ago. The third generation of this border people is on the way to continue the process of informality one more time, still not enough time to find solutions at the governmental level. The reduced attention oriented to the provinces of the country is increasing this migration problem, and its consequences are more and more serious. Depending on the characteristics of the place where they settle, people find out different solutions to develop economic activities to subsist, such as informal commerce or small industry, and in some cases their evolution is successful enough to comply much of their desires; the ones that will prove their success in the community they come from, to which they remain close for different reasons, such as economic or familiar engagements.

The economic situation from recent years has been negative for most of the population in the country. In the informal settlements, where the sense of community is still strong, the survival of population is based on mutual help, accomplished by the labour of base groups that attend the basic needs of the community, such as food and health. Mainly the women that stay in the settlement to take care of their families or to work in home develop these communal activities; in some cases they receive the support of organised groups, such as the church or some NGOs, in which I have participated on small local projects with children and women.

Nowadays the living place for young families is available with their parents or close relatives, or is solved by new invasions in further or inadequate sites, such as dangerous ravines or sanitary filings, where most of houses present precarious conditions but represent the biggest property of the family. As economic situation remains adverse for most of the population and the main alternatives of working are situated in the big cities, this problem of informality will remain as the most concrete alternative and will continue growing; just as the declining situation in the rural settlements of the country.

ESF/N-AERUS: International workshop - Leuven and Brussels, Belgium, 23-26 May 2001

N-AERUS: Network-Association of European Researchers on Urbanisation in the South
http://www.naerus.net